Book Review and Giveaway – Intentional Printing

Lynn Krawczyk is a fellow screen printing enthusiast and shop owner and a wonderfully talented and generous human being. You can see the artist spotlight I wrote up on her here. I was thrilled to see that she had a book out and snapped it up right away. There are a number of surface design books out there. I think I own almost all of them. I love seeing other artists work and getting a little glimpse into their techniques and especially their decision making process. Read through to the end to find out how you can enter to win a copy of this fabulous book.

Intentional Printing is a delightful combination of techniques, projects, and (my favorite part) process! Lynn guides you through some interesting questions then cheers you on with lovely encouraging words. In fact, I think she and I sing much the same song. If you’ve ever had a class with me you know exactly what I am talking about. Here are a few choice gems from some of the first pages:

PERMISSION TO CHANGE THINGS“It’s amazing how we so often cling to a way of doing things that we don’t like simply because that’s how we were taught to do it. … Your art making is your time. Do it the way you want to.”

THE PERFECTION MYTH“It’s OK to make mistakes. In fact, it’s more than okay – it’s necessary. You won’t learn about yourself or your art until you screw things up. Mistakes are the ultimate teacher in everything.”

Now, I don’t usually do projects. I even dislike teaching them. I’d much rather teach techniques so that you have a tool to stick in your own back pocket, ready to pull out when you are ready to bring your own ideas to fruition. But – since I like to print fabric and one of the projects in this book was something I’ve been wanting to put together for a while now anyway, I decided to go for it. Nothing ever really gets done in my studio without a deadline so I gave myself half a day to play and just DO IT!

My house is always full of children and their stuff so I don’t bother truly “decorating” rooms. We spend too much time “living” in rooms to worry about how they look. My dining room, however, is a place that makes me happy. We invite people over (usually whichever family is new in church that week) for dinner at least once or twice a month and this room gets used on a regular basis. I’ve been wanting to make a large table runner type something with that insulated stuff in the middle (whatever they put inside hot pads) so that I can put hot pots right on the table. It’s a pain to have to pass the hot pot and the trivet along with it when we serve around the table. So here we go.

First up – Drawing on Fabric. I used the syringe to get the paint into my squeeze bottle. I used Prochem’s textile paint, knowing that since it was transparent it wasn’t going to show up much on the brown kona cotton background after it dried. I’m going for visual texture rather than crisp readability. And it’s been a long time since I’ve drawn with a squeeze bottle. Urg. It took a while of practice to get into the flow of things. Literally. My paint flow was all over the place. My bottle was hard to squeeze (maybe I need to use the squeeze bottles Lynn recommends eh?) but eventually it got easier.

Next up – Thermofax Screen Printing. I used opaque paint this time, going for more bold prints. My dishes are all mismatched black, red, or white. My table is both honey and deep walnut brown and my hand dyed napkins are a very deep teal and navy so those are the colors I’m going to put together.

And here is where leaving things to the last minute does me in. That much paint in the scribble writing is going to take overnight to dry and I didn’t start this project far enough in advance. Remember what Lynn said, we learn best from our mistakes. This isn’t a mistake – it’s a learning opportunity that reminds me that paint needs time to dry. (And that deadlines sneak up on a person!)

I’d love it if you came back to visit my blog over the next few days to see things move along. I plan to finish this up tomorrow. In the mean time, please check out the other blogs in the hop and see what wonderful things these talented artists are doing with Lynn’s techniques and projects. Each has a giveaway as well so be sure to leave comments on each blog!

To win a copy of Lynn’s book leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite “mistake” and what you learned from it.

congratulations to WENDY (comment #74 chosen through a random number generator at random.org) who is the lucky winner of Lynn’s book!

But don’t be sad my international friends. Here’s the deal. I am going to give away my review copy as well (since I bought the ebook as soon as it came out!) and will give you the chance to win that one if you are willing to chip in on shipping. I’ll post that giveaway when I finish the table runner. Deal?

Have you ever thought about creating an ebook or guest
authoring on other websites? I have a blog based
upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share
some stories/information. I know my audience would enjoy your work.

My favorite mistake was not using a syringe to fill the squeeze bottle. Thanks so much for this wonderful blog and always sharing such good information as this posting. I always learn something new. You and your guest bloggers are terrific teachers! Also realized another top mistake is not taking more classes. Need to check your schedule!

After carefully painting wax in great detail on what was supposed to become a pillow cover I then went to over dye the fabric, not thinking that the hot water would remove all my hard work!! Yikes!! And all gone!!

My favorite mistake is to drop things that I never intended… I spent a day quilting a beautiful heart for Mother’s Day, then used metallic pink paint on a roller to highlight roses in the quilting. Then I dropped the roller right on the heart. I actually cried. I ended up using pearl paint to hide the mess after I calmed down.

My mistake (which has happened more than once) was printing too close to a wet print and getting the image on the back of my screen. Then printing the screen again and having the print on the screen back print on my fabric. Sometimes mistakes work out!

My favorite mistakes came while working with iron to figure out how to print with it through thermofax screens. I found some really interesting things along the way and successfully worked out how to thermofax screen rust. Thanks for the fabulous giveaway!

I’ve made just about every mistake that can be made – wrong side sewn to right side, upside down, inside out, backwards, cut using wrong mark on ruler. Now I just want to play with printing, painting, and NO RULES!

My favorite mistake: Following a piece of advice that gallery owners like black backing fabric on quilts because if the back is visible in the gallery, it reads as a simple, neutral background. My wee brain, however, did not grasp the other important step to achieving this nice, neutral, black background – namely, also using black thread in the bobbin while quilting. Instead, I did my usual thing. I used bobbin threads that matched the colors of my quilting thread. The result was a back that absolutely did NOT meet the gallery preference. But the back looked great with all those contrasting threads streaming across a black background. I loved it and I have stuck with the practice ever since.

Thank you for the giveaway! I’ve made many mistakes. I have “saved” good stuff, only to let it dry out or get too old! I’ve been too careful with something I am working on, and found that I liked the scraps of stuff where I put excess paint etc. – the scraps end up looking more natural and free !

My favorite mistake was spilling the bottle of paint on my lap. When I rinsed it out, the paint had bled over to other parts of the apron, and left an interesting design. I left that, and still wear it that way.

First of all , I just saw your finished project and it is gorgeous on your table along with the bowl of seashells! I only decided to go on this blog hop and am SO glad I took the time. I am so inspired by what everyone has done and said about this book and know it will be of immense value to me. My biggest mistake was in not putting something under fabric I tried painting not realizing the paint just might bleed thru the other side. Lesson learned! Thanks for the chance to win.

Well, there were the lemonade pants. Not yellow, but black. I called them my lemonade pants because I put the lovely vertical welt pockets…. into the backs! After covering the back pockets with patch pockets, I made another set of welt pockets in the fronts. So the lemonade pants had six, count them, six pockets! All that work, too bad the fabric didn’t hold up in the laundry.

Another tunic blouse of check was nearly perfectly done, when I ironed holes into the back hem area. At the top layer of pleats. That tunic got a couple of patches turned on the bias to create a design element.

I’ve also covered holes and stains with applique or beading.

There are few projects in textiles where you can’t somehow turn a lemon into lemonade.

Don’t know if one would call it a mistake or simply a “happening”. I started out rough sketching (ink) a picture of my friend’s dog. I knew the dog so well and thus what was just play for me turned out to be a sketch that really showed off the dog’s personality. I had done the sketch on printing paper (not intending it to become anything worthwhile). I decided to just go ahead and do an ink wash on it and, voila, it became a painting of sorts. I framed it and gave it to him for his birthday and it hangs to this day on the wall over his favorite chair. And THAT was when I learned that I could draw and paint and thread sew pictures of animals! I’ve done two more (intentionally, thus with the appropriate materials) that were great hits. I learned that I truly enjoy capturing the personality of an animal with my art.

Love mistakes!!! They are usually the opening in the creative process and change everything that I planned …as much as I plan 🙂 So the biggest mistake was probably getting upset the first time a mistake happened. I now get excited about mistakes!!

My mistake was mixing too many colors while dyeing fabric. I came up with the worst brown ever seen by woman. I thought of throwing it out, but while doing a forest scene, I was glad I didn’t. It made the best scrunched up tree bark and “mud” on the quilt! I couldn’t believe that I actually had a use for it. See you in Tacoma!!!

When I learned my son-in-law was taking a business trip to Japan I excitedly asked him to bring me some fabric if he was able to…I gave him no direction about what kind I was looking for.. to my surprise he brought back a large piece of orange (his favorite color) brocade. It is gorgeous, but not what I had in mind. My mistake for not giving any direction. I just thought he would know, since I use mostly cottons. Guess he thought I had plenty of them, so he got me something pretty and different. I could not cut it, so it is framed over a piece of cork and used to display special items. I pin the little crafts my grandchildren make for me up on it, I just change them out with the seasons.

Oh, how to pick which mistake? I have made many. I prefer to call them happy accidents because they always take me in a new direction. Guess my most memorable would be the art quilt I am working on now. In an impatient huff to finish it I left a large piece of hand-dyed fabric in amongst much smaller strips. I quilted it and “finished” it only to be disappointed in the look. I am now embroidering on that piece in the hope to make it better.

I am so excited that I get to take a couple classes from you in Tacoma in July!

My favorite mistake has been deciding I needed an entire collection of splash fabric. The cost far exceeded what I should have spent. Now it’s my go to fabric when I don’t want to use the “good” stuff, but need a variety of color.

I’ve learned that I cannot read my daughter’s mind. She asked for a quilt in a certain colorway and I thought, okay, I can choose something she would like. 🙂 Well, after another whole set of fabric purchasing, I landed on what she wanted. I guess it’s a good thing we love fabric stashes.

My favorite mistake was deciding to make a quilt of a 3 inch square picture my son drew when he was 9. He had to oversee the whole project. Even to the point of picking which fabric I could use. Everytime I worked on something else he would ask if I was done with his quilt. He was quite the task master on that project.

Most memorable mistake was choosing fabrics for a quilt that, laying on a table, looked gorgeous and interesting up close, But when sewn together the colors were too close in value to have that POP that makes a quilt special, even tho the quilt was technically perfect. From that day forward I learned that color relationships are the most important part of good art and memorable quilts.

I’m working on my favorite mistake right now. It’s a “controlled” scrap quilt of about 20 different reds and 30 beiges along with some blue fabric. I had to enlarge the pattern to fit a double bed and that all worked fine but I still needed some borders to make it a little bigger. However, with all those reds and beiges, there was not enough of any one of them to do a solid border. So my solution was to piece a narrow border of assorted reds, then a little wider border of assorted beiges and then to finish with a still wider border of assorted reds. It looks great and compliments the scrappy appearance of the rest of the quilt.

When the first child was born and I was sleep-deprived for years (this is my excuse), I decided to make a playmat for him out of a fabric panel that had roads and buildings printed on it. I included batting and backing and happily stitched it all together. However, I never thought to do any quilting (I was a sewer not a quilter) or even tufts with yarn and you can imagine what it looked like after I washed and dried it the first time – a big lumpy mess!

Early in my quilting career I tried to machine quilt a quilt but didn’t keep it taut enough. So I ended up with somewhat of a mess, but I also hadn’t washed the fabrics or the batting! When I washed it, everything shrunk very nicely and it looked so much nicer than it deserved. Washing hid most of the problems. I keep it on my bed to remind me. I don’t think I can count on such luck all the time!

My favorite mistake was following the rule of thirds to the letter and realizing after the quilt was finished that the rule didn’t work on my quilt. I had to cut part of the top off and restitch the new top shut to make it look right. I learned to bend the rules and follow my gut. By the way, I love that your table topper isn’t perfectly square. It looks right that way.

Being intentional with every step of my quilt art is my current goal. This book looks fabulous! Worst mistake…showing my granddaughters how to attempt coloring fabric by pounding flowers under fabric…using rock, of course, with concrete underneath. Hmm….made for some nice holes in the fabric! Lesson #1: It might be good to use a smooth surface underneath. Lesson #2 Use smooth rocks. 🙂

Letting quilt sisters talk me into 3 yards of fabric I did not love. It became the background for 64 paper pieced blocks I also did not love and the quilt is quite nice. Surface design mistakes? Not many because I do not take enough risks, do not play enough. A new project…take more risks, play more, do more art.

Boy, I need this book. I haven’t done much printing on fabric but I did a little on my gelli plate. My biggest mistake has been with color choices. I have learned that there are no mistakes, only possibilities.

Yow, I guess I make all kinds of mistakes all the time, but I never really see them that way because I don’t have everything planned out. Sometimes they’re frustrating or take longer to work out, but I’m usually excited by what I came up with. I love your script, by the way — I keep it on a bookmark. I love Lynn’s work, and I love your work, as well!

I am still new to dyeing and was doing a batch of snow dyeing. I had added orange, yellow and a dark blue to one of my bins of snow. I had no idea I would be getting a brown murky mess! It was a very nice piece, just not what I had expected. Thanks for the chance for this wonderful new book.

My biggest mistakes in printmaking turn out to be the fabulous prints. I now look at something and think hmmmn, I wonder how that would print. The biggest mistake was thinking that a vintage heat vent cover would not make a beautiful print and it was wonderful, the more I printed it, the less the paint, the better the print.

My favorite mistake was made years ago when I didn’t have enough fabric to finish a quilt top and it needed to get done NOW. So I just made due with the fabrics that I did have. Improvising and using the “wrong” fabric helped me to see quilts in a whole new light. Now I often mix things up and don’t use the “right” fabric and I think my quilts are more interesting.
Thanks for the chance to win this wonderful book.

I was making fimo buttons and forgot to put the holes in where I would attach them to my quilt with beads. Got out my handy dremel and was able to make the holes without any problem. Not only was it easy, I was able to take a 3 inch button and drill several holes around the edge and lace the button down with floss and beads. Looks great! Getting more confident as I go!

I make mistakes all the time and usually take them as a message that I need to follow that direction. They are good learning opportunities. I love the idea do the table runner as trivet and am going to make a couple for myself. Love the circles silkscreen! I think I’m going to order one like it from you.

The best mistake I ever had was to glob a bunch of yellow paint onto my piece. Accck! As I was frantically wiping it off, I saw that the light layer of yellow made the colors underneath glow. Whoa! Guess what I do with yellow paint often now? Ha!

My favorite mistake? Making such an awful piece that I tossed it. In desperation I pulled out fabric paints I’d had for 10 years and had never used. The project turned out decently and that taught me that I really want to start learning various surface design techniques! Hence my desire to win a copy of Intentional Printing.

My mistakes usually happen when I sew without a plan…like accidentally sewing things together backward because I didn’t think it all the way through.. 🙂
I’ve learned that even though I know me and I’m not going to list out the steps if I think before I start sewing things together I’m better off if I plan a little…

I’m enjoying this “hop” and thanks for the opportunity to perhaps win Lynn’s new book!
One of my mistakes: forgot to soda ash soak some fabric prior to dyeing and didn’t add any to dye mixture. It didn’t work out too well. 🙁

My most recent mistake was during a dye session. I was overdying two different colors of fabric with a third color of dye and decided to use the rest of the dye stock on a piece of white fabric that would act as a control piece. Imagine my surprise when most of the dye rinsed out, leaving me with something that looked like chambray. I did a burn test and sure enough, that white cotton fabric was a blend. But I loved the effect so well, I want to dye up more poly cotton!

My favorite mistake is when I’m weaving rims on pots and I get distracted and suddenly realize I’m going the wrong way or doing something totally different from the plan. I’ve learned that rather than rip it out just keep going and I have a new one-of-a-kind pattern that I’ll never be able to repeat! I can take this lesson to any medium, accept, move on and enjoy!

I’m so new to all this type stuff that I’ve made way too many mistakes but I’ve learned from them all. The most recent one was when I was “making new fabric” from my scrap pieces…using fusible interfacing then stitching over all the various sizes, trying to mimic a crazy quilt pattern, the thread I used didn’t show up well at all. I’ve started another “crazy quilt” using a heavier weight thread which is working & looking much better. Thanks for sharing and the opportunity to win a copy of Lynn’s book.

I was in a class and the technique was to create blocks for a quilt by weaving fabric strips together. I was having a great time and decided to cut out some fish from a piece of printed fabric and weave them through like they were swimming through the strips. The instructor came up behind me and said, you did those wrong. You left out a whole section of strips. Indeed, I had made a mistake. But,if I hadn’t constructed it wrong the fish could not have been added. I left it as is and it turned out to my satisfaction. It now hangs right above my ironing table.

I am new to dyeing and surface design, so I’ve made a lot of mistakes like mixing the wrong colors together. But I just take my ugly fabric and use it to experiment on with various techniques. It is very freeing to experiment on fabric that you aren’t afraid of ruining!

A recent mistake was trying to start with a predyed fabric to demonstrate round robin techniques… no matter what I did, it had very little impact on the original fabric. Lesson learned: start with a blank canvas (i.e., fabric) and do a little pre-planning! But I am sure I will find a use for the fabric anyway. Thanks for your review of Lynn’s book! I would love to win a copy so I can learn more about printing. And I love your circular screen too… is that for sale?
Judy

My favorite mistake was ironing wonder under onto the top of an art piece and then it was too shiny. Met the challenge and covered it with tulle to soften the effect and it worked! I lean more from my mistakes than anything else.

None of my mistakes are favorites. haha
My most recent was yesterday when I sewed the facing strips of a new quilt to the wrong side of the quilt. I was so involved in the technique and how to improve it that I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing. At least it is only 18 inches square. Ripping begins today.
Thanks for the review and the opportunity to win the book.

One mistake I have made is being too “thrifty” with batting & backing, and then having to go back and add pieces to both. I got lucky the time where this happened to a quilt about to be entered in a show, and was able to piece the back so that the joins were under the sleeve & label. Better to cut it a little too big!

Of course I’m going to have to come back to see where your wonderful printing is leading!!! Great way to leave us wanting more! Now on to your question:
Over the years I’ve learned the most from not giving up over my less than wonderful outcomes. I love color and when my first tries were really ugly, my first instinct was to just give up thinking I must not be artistically gifted. I’ve even thought perhaps I’m destined to appreciate art, but not actually be an artist. I still have a LONG ways to go, but I’m seeing through practice, that I actually can improve–it’s all the course corrections, the mishaps, the less than desirable outcomes, that teach me the next step. It’s all in the practice! Which happens to be my ‘word’ for this year.

Lyric–You crack me up with how you get things done. I can totally relate. My “favorite” mistake? I guess I’ve blocked them out. I did an art quilt one time which was whimsical. As I worked on it, people kept suggesting that I needed to add this thing or that. i kept adding things until a wise friend suggested that I stop listening to others. I proclaimed it done, cut off that blank portion of background, added a border, quilted it, bound it, and called it done!

I don’t think I have a favorite mistake just for the fact that I’m still making them! lol I have learned though that it’s not the end of the world when something goes wrong. Sometimes things turn go in a different direction and turn out better than they would have if things had gone right.

My favorite mistake was made while on a deadline, I put shoulder pads in a jacket backwards and it wasn’t noticed until the jacket was sold and the new owner asked if I could put smaller shoulder pads in. The originals worked just fine when I turned them around.

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